‘Psych: The Movie’ Stars James Roday and Dulé Hill Preview Their Return

Yahoo TV had the pleasure of welcoming Psych: The Movie stars James Roday and Dulé Hill to our suite at San Diego Comic-Con 2017 and chatted with them about their highly anticipated return to USA. While Psych might have ended its eight-season run back in 2014, fans of the show have remained invested in Shawn Spencer (Roday), Burton “Gus” Guster (Hill), and the rest of the gang. Roday and Hill chatted with us about their two-hour holiday movie, and it would seem that Psychos (an endearing term for diehard fans of the show) will have a lot to look forward to.

The “Engine” that Drives Psych: The Movie

The last episode of Psych ended with our friends being split up. Shawn and Juliet (Maggie Lawson) got engaged and were set to start a new chapter with Gus and Vick (Kirsten Nelson) in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Henry (Corbin Bernsen), Lassiter (Timothy Omundson), and Woody (Kurt Fuller) were still sticking around in Santa Barbara.

“We needed something that brought everyone back together,” said Roday, who co-wrote the movie with original series creator Steve Franks. “We’ve got a couple of characters in Santa Barbara and characters in San Francisco, so it was sort of about geography and trying to find a commonality that we could use to get the whole band back together. Without giving you any spoilers, that was the engine behind creating the case. I think there was a lot of goodwill from USA when we ended the show that maybe this wasn’t going to be the last time we saw us. But you never know. We have the greatest fans ever but there was no guarantee that they would still care this much after three or four years.”

“[USA President] Chris McCumber had said when the show finished its eight seasons, [he was] pretty sure this isn’t the last time we [would] hear from Shawn and Gus,” added Hill. “So I think that when Psychos read that they held onto that.”

“Turns out he was talking about his nephews Shawn and Gus, but we didn’t know that at the time,” joked Roday. “It felt nice. It felt warm.”

Casting Zachary Levi as the Movie’s Antagonist, the “Thin White Duke”

Many a Psych fan were delighted when it was reported last June that Zachary Levi would be joining the cast of the holiday movie as the Thin White Duke, “a ruthless, mysterious, and dashing evildoer of the highest order.”

“Zach is an old friend of both of ours,” said Roday. “There’s been a movement to get him on Psych for years. The schedule never quite worked out and this time it did. I think it’s definitely for the best, it was the best role we could have possibly used him for.”

Easter Eggs, Songs, and Suck Its

Of course, while the movie will be different from the series, it won’t be a tremendous departure from what fans loved. “We’ve got some Easter eggs for our Psychos,” Roday reassured us. “We wouldn’t dare not give them a couple of treats.”

The same goes for the vocal stylings of Shawn and Gus. “I don’t know if there’s holiday-themed singing, but there’s some singing,” said Roday.

“There are some songs that are sang,” added Hill. “And will be sung.”

Of course, no hard-hitting interview like this would be complete without asking the tough questions. We had to know — how many “suck its” will we hear in the movie. “That’s a tricky question,” said Hill. “I would say at least seven.”

“I know what you’re thinking and there’s one that gives you a nice, healthy dose of it,” added Roday. “And then there’s probably a couple of stragglers. You definitely need two hands to count them.”

One of the sweetest moments from Comic-Con was when Shannon Purser (Barb from Stranger Things) teared up after receiving a message from the stars of Psych: